Rep. Thompson joins retail boycott

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, cancelled her appearance at a press conference to kick-off the 2013 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday at a Macy’s department store, citing displeasure that a store representative wrote Gov. Rick Perry advocating veto of a her bill permitting lawsuits in state court for wage discrimination. Earlier today, Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, announced she was doing the same.

“Upon learning that Macy’s had pressured Governor Perry to veto the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, I decided to cancel my appearance at today’s press conference,” Thompson said in a press release. “HB 950 passed both chambers with bipartisan support, and until Macy’s and other retailers that oppose common sense legislation get on board with equal pay for equal work, I will not be patronizing any of them. I will not support these retailers until they support Texas women.”

She said she urged Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, to go forward with the press conference at Macy’s because “I support the Sales Tax Holiday as a means for Texas families to save on back-to-school items for their children.”

She said her bill was needed because “on average, women make just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. Over a woman’s career, that disparity leads to more than $430,000 in lost wages.

The Chronicle reported Tuesday that the Texas Retailers Association and several of its members, including Macy’s, urged Perry to veto the bill because it would have led to open-ended litigation. They also said the bill duplicated federal law. But Thompson said “federal courts are more expensive for both plaintiffs and defendants while state courts are available in every county and are less costly. This bill is about letting Texans solve Texas problems to take care of Texas wage disputes. ”